Egypt Revolution: Take 2

Remember how happy the Egyptain population was to depose one dictator only to have him replaced with a ruling military junta, and how prosaic, not to mention cynical, our assumption was that the newly "democratic" country has three months before the country experiences another post-Thermiodrian revolution? Well, our estimate was three weeks off. As the video shows, Tahrir Square (remember it? the second black swan of 2011 after that whole Tunisia thing...) is once again the latest and greatest place to go, be seen, and occasionally, shot at.

And from Reuters, here's why Suez Canal concerns, so promptly put to bed, will likely reemerge within a month:

Egypt's ruling military council said on Saturday it would clear protesters from a central Cairo square with "firmness and force" to allow life to return to normal.

Speaking at a news conference, a senior military officer blamed trouble in Tahrir Square on "elements that backed the counter-revolution", a reference to people loyal to the administration of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

At least they did not blame the snow. In the meantime inquiring minds want to know: just how many of the CIA boots on the ground currently in Libya were positioned there after "completing" their job in neighboring Egypt...

Hundreds of protesters demanding that Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, be put on trial for alleged corruption, have retaken Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, hours after security forces attempted to disperse them, in a clash that killed at least one person.

By 7am (local time) on Saturday morning, army and central security troops appeared to have withdrawn, leaving the square to protesters who set vehicles on fire and began setting up barricades made of furniture and left-behind barbed wire.

"The number of protesters remaining in the square is swelling, as news [of the clashes] spreads through the city," reported Mike Hanna, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Cairo.

Hundreds of army and security forces troops had stormed the square earlier, in an attempt to disperse the thousands of protesters.

In scenes reminiscent of the violent 18-day uprising that ousted longtime President Mubarak in February, protesters and riot police threw rocks at each other, and security forces responded by firing tear gas, witnesses said.

Egypt's health ministry said that one person was killed and 71 injured after those clashes. The military had earlier denied that anyone was hurt or killed in the raid of the square.

One of the main roads running east from Tahrir Square towards Talaat Harb Square was virtually empty, and gunfire seemed to have subsided, a witness said.

The military in a statement released through the state MENA news agency, said that security forces were attempting to enforce a 2am to 5am (local time) curfew.

"Elements from the interior ministry along with some noble citizens confronted the riotous actions and enforced the curfew without any losses," the statement read. "The armed forces stress that they will not tolerate any acts of rioting or any act that harms the interest of the country and the people."

A separate statement carried on the military's Facebook page blamed "remnants" of Mubarak's National Democratic Party for the clashes, and ordered the arrest of four party members it accused of "thuggery" during the sit-in.

Guns fired, rocks thrown

Most of the protesters retreated after the army entered the square, witnesses said. Bassiouny ran to the west side of the square, which leads to Kasr el-Nil Bridge, and found more troops entering from that direction.

On the road leading east into the central business district around Talaat Harb Square, protesters tore down the roof of a bus stop and dragged it down the road to protect themselves from gunfire and rocks, said Drew Storey, a neighbourhood resident.

Protesters and army soldiers threw rocks at each other, and at least four injured protesters had to be carried away, he said. Soldiers fired their guns into metal shopfronts, sending sparks flying and bullets ricocheting, apparently to scare away the protesters, Storey said.

At one point, he said, security forces clad in riot gear chanted, cheered and shook each others' hands after driving the protesters away.

Other central security and army forces had been stationed to the north of Tahrir Square next to the Egyptian Museum, which military police have turned into a makeshift detention centre.

For those interested in what will likely be headline news again very soon, here is a live feed from Al Jazeera:

Ya he should act like a legitimate power that be. Countefeit billions and bribe people to make nasty fucking microwave weapons for crowd control. Pay soldiers to muder anybody you want under your thumb and bribe stupid shitheads to build crappy technology and make stupid fuckig movies.

Have yahoo put out story after story after story about what the IRS won't allow while people say fuck you and don't pay taxe anyway.

Personally I think if someone were to hook everyone in every private college, middle school and high school on heroine and then get the kids to steal from their parents for the heroine it would be heroic karmic payback. I'd suggest a similar strategy for various other captured business realms but they appear to be on drugs already.

I know for a fact that professional internet trolls are definitely all a bunch of moronic tweakers.

Aside from the intentional sprinkling of a few pro-liberty buzzwords to gain your creds, you are one of the most relentless cheerleaders for the US government and big government in general on this site. It's not like the US military is some separate entity. It IS the government; the largest government bureaucracy and socialist make-work program on earth.

If you aren't getting paid for all of your idiotic, fear the latest bogeyman "war on terror" posts, then you should really look into it. You obviously have nothing better to do than to spend your days parroting pro-government propaganda on message boards.

How many junks does a post have to accumulate before Tyler does his thing? I may not agree with everything Chumba says, but his tactics are commendable. Millions of home squatters and IPad buyers give him a two thumbs up. I wait with bated breath for the warrior to show up and smack this gnat into the dirt....

It used to take only 20 "junks" to consign a post into oblivion (just ask Leo Kolivakis, he is quite familiar with the process), but now the number has been upped to either 50 or 51 --- but it still does happen.

This can't be true. I remember our very own George Washington writing a diatribe telling us how wonderful it was that Egypt had a full blown democracy that was envied by the West and didn't require any intervention from the bad ole imperialist YOU ESS of Ay

It comes from being DUMB as a result of a zillion generations of cousin marriage. Not surprisingly, the family traditions hold that doing your cousin is the ultimate mystical experience, and so it carries on....

The Keyboard General 'Bearster' claims to know what the REVOLUTIONARIES in Egypt want. But he's just talking out of his ass.

He has no clue and he has paid no attention to the fact that the REVOLUTION hasn't stopped for one day since (Mu)Barak was toppled.

What they're really fighting for is the arrest of (Mu)Barak's political allies, economic justice, a new constitution, and, most recently the opening of the border with Gaza.

From the comfort of his sofa, eating Cheetos and watching MSNBC with bated breath, 'Bearster' may trash the revolution, but in doing so his really trashing the people in the world willing to stand up against the system Zero-Hedgers whine about all day long.

What could the CIA possibly have to do wih ay of this? I thought it was all spontaneous. You know, frustrated people suddenly coming together and awakening to the idea that they all had something in common, a desire for peace, justice and freedom. So they went to their respective basements and brought out their tanks, mortors, anti-aircraft guns, thousands of automatic weapons and hundreds of tons of ammo. You know. It was spontaneous.

Quoting Obama’s campaign slogan of change and supporting the rights of people, Ahmadinejad then said: “Behind this attractive appearance lurks the same old criminals, professional and typical thieves, those same slave owners and colonialists and this time their aim is to once again save their own banking system and imperialist interests.

Ahmadinejad: ‘A Mideast Without Israel and America Now Possible’ (4/7/11)

It was never spontaneous. The rally was called for early in the week by the REVOLUTIONARIES to protest the military government's unwillingness to try (Mu)Barak's lackeys.

Fuel was added to the protest call when Apartheid Israel went out and killed a dozen or so Palestinians during the week.

It's really easy to talk about how everything is pre-planned by powerful foreign forces when you ignore what the REVOLUTION itself is doing.

Finally, 'macholatte' makes the case - entirely unsupported by evidence, that the protestors had access to " tanks, mortors, anti-aircraft guns, thousands of automatic weapons and hundreds of tons of ammo".

All of this is, of course, utter bullshit. There is no source that confirms this in any way.

We ain't having it! Not know, not ever! Viva la Rev, and do what you can. The best way, if you do not want to risk yourself, is to buy silver as to collapse the banking system. Of course, Americans could recognize themselves as part of the collective, instead of just sitting on their asses until their own pensions are threatened. Either way, let us move. Buy silver, or use your sword...I mean word.

It's the Yemen topple that will truly set things in motion. Libya may have lots of oil, but Yemen is going to make the Saudi's very itchy. And therefore, the USA too. Other ME nations stepping back from earlier "commitments" to Yemen's power structure with carefully worded comments today.

And Egypt proved the same thing against Apartheid Israel in 1973, until the Zionist settler-state called upon Uncle Sam for help.

The last thing in the world Apartheid Israel wants is war with Egypt. After all, its little army without soldiers can't even deal with Hamas and has to rely on its power to intimidate by massacring grandmothers.

They might find the arc of the covenant, or some other ancient weapon buried out there...maybe a third stargate that goes to different universes, where for example most of the easy oil is under the civilised countries rather than the inbred-since-the-beginning-of-time ones.

Egypt is an enigma to the rational and a rambling maze to the oriental. It became a splendid place when Saladin made it his capital in his fight for independence and it stayed that way for 700 years, a beacon of freedom and learning in a crumbling moslem world. Now sucked into globalization by Henry Kissinger, sold to the western dream of oil patch hegemony, it will take time to re-find it's past glory and independence. It's sons must learn the ways of modern man...the first lesson of which is freedom from tyrants...true challenge inflicted on downtrodden people in a world astride by the lords of globalization who march with Machiavelli's mask, speak of benign IMF goodwill to all and sundry, while advancing on their own hidden and laser beamed world agenda.

Well said and written as always Falak. The pendulum continues to swing this way and that on our chosen 33rd. A DU pendulum at that. I wonder when DU love will coat more and more of that blighted latitude?

And the enigma of Egypt runs deeper. It's age AND containing the exact centre of the earth's landmass (on which Al Giza, the great pyramid is built) is a huge tell.

The missing capstone, which some say went down with Egyptair 88....what if it did and what if it did'nt? It's central to the Masonic Monkeys, that is for sure.

You speak a language that only the gods understand and we, mere humans, see its imprint on our lives through a straight line running horizontally across our global expanse called 33 o'clock wake up call time, which we refuse to hear throughout the ages, as you have so clearly pointed out. As for the signs of the current times let me just say in retrospective that the 12th and 13th centuries were periods where the world got smaller through 'globalisation', often violent, through the Crusades, an activity whose impetus developed concomitantly the silk and spice routes of east-west trade. But which led to a very destructive century : the 14th, harbinger of world population shrinkage of significant magnitude with the plague and 100 year war in Europe. Maybe a signal for us about this new century which has begun so ominously.

Israel has to be shitting a brick. Mubarak, though a corrupt dictator, was able to keep weapons out of Gaza for the most part. With the muslim brotherhood making in-roads, Israel loses any chance of security with their neighbors. This does not end well.

Well this time they could get pro footage and lighting on the set, so Lara Logan Does Muzzies 2 would get at least some eyes on it.

As to the first episode, it is a hell of time we are living in when not only does a major news agency not go get the underlying story of who these people demonstrating actually are, one of their star reports gets it good and hard for thirty minutes straight from representatives of modern freedom loving egyptian youth, and they bury the story. It isn't like they needed to triple check their sources before going with the story, but here they utterly suppressed it, preferring to stick to the freedom and democracy lie.

A revolution isn't always a good thing. Look at Iran and the USSR. If they want individual freedom and autonomy from TPTB, then I'm all for it. If they want to overthrow one tribal dictator for a more unstable despot, then why should we support them? The way I see it we should stay out of it and let them handle the killing so they can't blame us

I have an idea. Let's give them weapons with a built in CAPTCHA feature. The problem in the arab middle east is generations of inbreeding. We should favor the least dumb, and the least islamic, as that religion doubles down on the already bad starting point of a low IQ population. Basically the entire population gets raised through the critical years when their brains are growing by the least educated, lowest status segment of the population, women, because of Islam.

As to ethnic cleansing there are something like a couple million arabs living IN Israel as citizens of Israel. The only difference between them and their cousins across the fence is 65 years of living healthily and happily and freely in Israel instead of in the western supported welfare zones called the palestinian territories. So the obvious question is, if you think the Isrealis are practicing "ethnic cleansing" how is that the native arab and muslim population of Israel hasn't received any such attention? Maybe it has something to do with their parents choice not to clear out back in '48 in front of arab armies' planned ethnic cleansing against the jews?

I expect to hear crickets or babble from you, but would like to be happily surprised for once.

If the Mb is willing to give the West better oil deals and play the IMF game, then our tyrants will support them. I remember when Gaddhafi was the toast of the town a few months ago, schmoozing with Western leaders. Now he's worse than the anti-christ

And now, a case of black and white that is anything but black and white.

A white congressman, Jim Moran of Alexandria, goes to pick up his kids at a recreation center where most of the children are black. Moran parks his Toyota Avalon and as he's getting out, he's approached by an 8-year-old boy, who is black. (The boy's parents don't mind if I use the child's name. I mind.)

The boy says something. That much everyone agrees on.

Moran says the boy said: "Give me your keys. I have a gun."

The boy says he said, "I like your car."

And we're off--downhill all the way. Moran grabs the boy, they tussle, the congressman ends up with his hand on the boy's throat. The boy's mother shows up at Cora Kelly Recreation Center and showers Moran with cusswords. Over the next two weeks come ugly accusations, threats of a lawsuit, accusations of racism--your classic post-O.J. slamdance of polarized perceptions.

Carjacker or car enthusiast? I spent a morning with the boy and his mother, Melanie Gaitwood. The boy showed me how he can watch traffic on Route 1 and name the make and model of every passing vehicle. The boy demonstrated how Moran yelled at him, held him at the throat (my neck still hurts) and carried him into the rec center, whereupon police were summoned.

This is a nice boy, the rec center director says. The boy's report cards are fine, no bad behavior noted. Gaitwood says her son would never do anything like what's alleged. "I know my child," she says. "He loves cars. He talks to people about cars all the time."

And yet.

Moran has no reason to make up this encounter. He's a liberal who's won broad black support for many years. He has a black grandson. He needs a racial flare-up in his political career like he needs a heart attack.

The congressman is upset enough to spend 40 minutes on the phone from Cairo recounting the episode instead of getting ready to meet the president of Egypt.

Moran says that immediately after the incident, the boy admitted what he'd done. "It was only after he'd been coached that he changed his story."

The congressman's account is detailed. Many of those details match the boy's story--where the two stood, exactly how the struggle proceeded.

"It's a little embarrassing," Moran says, but just before lunging at the boy's arm, "I said, 'I'm a congressman, you just can't shoot me and think you're going to get away with this.' "

The boy's version of the dialogue is much more sparse: "I like your car," to which Moran says, "You're kidding," upon which the congressman grabs the child, unprovoked.

In the end, only Moran and the boy know what happened. I don't know. You don't know. The police, though they praised Moran for his courage, don't really know; they're still investigating. None of this has stopped people from taking sides.

The family and its lawyer say this boy could not kill, would not rob. Lawyer Ted Williams says this is about "a powerful white congressman who says an African American child attempted to carjack him." Williams repeatedly casts the case in racial terms, then adds, "I'm not saying Moran is a racist." Thanks a lot.

The congressman, for his part, was quick to go on national television to blast the child's family.

What do we know? The boy I met does not seem to match Moran's description. On television, the congressman told of a kid with "this icy, cold stare, no expression." The child I met is lively, friendly--his wide, arched eyebrows bob as he speaks; he smiles easily. Which, of course, proves nothing.

The mother says she overheard Moran on the phone shortly after the incident, saying, "I made a mistake, I grabbed this kid, I don't know what I'm supposed to do." Moran says there was no such conversation.

What happened? Maybe, as Moran says, the boy was acting out a fantasy he picked up from a movie, a friend, a relative. In this version, you'd have a troubled boy who did something scary.

Or maybe this: The boy's speech is not the clearest. Maybe Moran didn't understand the child and heard what he expected to hear from a (black) child at his car door. In this version, you'd have a troubled congressman who jumped to conclusions.

Who's more credible, a congressman or an 8-year-old? Politicians and children can both be talented liars. But both also deserve the assumption of honesty.

Moran sounds hurt, subdued. Why would he lie? He says he has no desire to press charges against the child--but he warns that if the family sues him, "one approach would simply be to file charges."

Both sides agree that were it not for the poison of race, we wouldn't be here. Gaitwood says that if her son were white, no one would have hauled him kicking and screaming into the rec center, no one would have launched an investigation or gone on television to tell the tale. Moran says that if the family hadn't started crying about race, he would seek help for the child and drop the matter.

But race, particularly in a divided city like Alexandria, matters.

And so a congressman gets on the phone and recites his racial bona fides: "Every one of my four children has gone to schools that are majority African American, their friends are African American. It's important to me that children grow up not seeing things in black and white."

Why should this man have to say this?

Gaitwood tells me that her boyfriend is white, she has white friends, she has taught her child not to hang out only with other blacks.

Why should she feel compelled to say this?

Where did this go off the rails? When Moran grabbed the boy? When the lawyer decided that the family wants not just an apology, but "justice"? When Moran chatted about the case with NBC's Katie Couric, as if this were one more cooking segment on a chat show?

In cases like this, it can be useful to reverse races and rethink: A black congressman runs into an 8-year-old white boy, who, let's say, threatens a carjacking. The congressman would be upset, scared. He'd grab the kid and call the cops.

But would he go on the Today program to cast aspersions on the boy's family? Would he speak wistfully, as Moran did, about wanting to adopt a child who he knows has parents? Is that remotely conceivable?

Sometimes, black and white isn't black and white at all. It's fog and mist, and it casts gloom over us all.

This guy looked hooked on power. Any challenge on his power position is enough to ignite him.

US citizens should go beyond that racist crap. The US society has been founded on racism and US citizens have shown many times their incapacity to change, only masquerading themselves at the cost of mucho dinero. Why keep pretending? It is a non sense at present times.

Had the kid a gun? Waylaid by a kid. In many countries, kids have still the luxury of way laying as a game. In the US, it is enough that a black kid lays way for fun on a grown up for the latter to be impossible to assess the threat or know if it is a game or not.

But.....it's springtime. Springtime across the Middle East and North Africa. This is Egypt's second springtime this year - the greedy bastards. And soon it will be springtime on the streets in Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain. Springtime all over. Way things are going, hell, maybe it'll be springtime all year round.......

"If the 'fraudulent debt' based imperial monetary system persists, the hungry eyptians will still go apeshit"

Applicable to every country where humans reside.

If this doesn't do it, a 3rd revolution, a 4th, until people can eat, and not worry about big banksters bending them over.

Not through printing, not through cutting. From the realization, and dealing with the real issue FRAUD on a massive scale, involving basically 'debt'.

Glass-Steagall

Until this is solved with the above 'low hanging fruit' tried and true solution, the number of revolutions a country or world will go through needs to be represented as N, or X or NN or XX or NNN or XXX, etc. The number only stops going higher when the fraud stops. Because only then will the pressure upon the people (causing them to revolt) will cease.

Yes! Middle East is daisy chaining mayhem world wide, as not living poorly will be a definite eventuality in AmeriCON'd. When all the feathers get plucked from the paper fiat global monetary carcass, the root of all bloodshed. What's left beyond burying some 3-4 billion souls caught in the bankster financial meat grinder? Be nice to have a people who actually keep a sound monetary system longer than the ilk which strayed from our constitutional declaration. Perhaps, even a people so free monetarily, they could prosper all the world. Maybe a real global economy which lasts a thousand years.

With 3 (three) ongoing Wars, that we can not afford, and are not in control of, and don’t understand, and want out of, and may not have the ability to sustain ----

It is my hope that we stay the hell out of and away from more problems.

It is obvious that the unrest in MENA is a huge threat to the World Economy and to the US Military to fuel the world wide Peace/War machine. Politicians want to be on the “right side” of events. The mantra of human rights (when it looks good for the US) always pops up.

However, we may be at a point in time where stability NOW with a thought of change later may be the only way we can play this hand and stay a viable player in the game. Don’t expect Russia, Indonesia, and Chavez to rush to our side.

If we loose the MENA oil supply for months or maybe years, it is game over for us.

Where oh where is all that Libyan mustard gas and Sarin? What role if any did the new military 'government' of Egypt play in its acquisition and transport? Where is it going, and when will it get there. Is it still in Sudan? Has it crossed the Red Sea to Yemen? Is it in Egypt, on its way across the Suez? Is it on a ship off the coast of Israel, waiting for a west wind? Perhaps already in Gaza? One wonders, and waits.

We have used white phosphorus shells to create smokescreens and to jam infrared tracking devices on antitank missiles in USFOR-A. Such uses are permitted under international law. Using it as an ordnance in densely populated civilian areas is a war crime.

someone in a leadership position needs to wake up... we need meaningful peace in the middle east... everyone wants it but $150 oil political interests

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is DC blind to what they are doing to the US... these people think our wars are a joke... wear your little yellow ribbon if it makes you proud... dont let American interest take a back seat to pontificating zionists

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i dont see how the genie is not out of the bottle... you are looking at the seeds of global revolution and no matter what your world view is... YOU AINT GUNNA GET IT

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slimy republicans and democrats letting the MSM spin the fragmenting of the global empire like it doesnt exist... stupid

You are looking at the end result of decades of interference by the U.S. and its foreign policies. Look at the history and you will see the reasons behind their mistrust and hatred of the U.S. government. You have to look at the cause not just the end result.

And even if it were not, I will happily kill anyone trying to harm my nation. I do not give the smallest care what justifications they think they have.

Get a grip. If you can find common cause with your active and sworn enemy, you are a freak of nature. Kick off the propaganda of the liberals, and defend the land your family lives in, or please kill your worthless self.

Assuming people like you are false flag Iranians makes more sense than any, but the most idiotic Ivy Leaguer, could actually believe such arrant bullshit.